Boys soccer: Hersey secures first sectional title in 18 years; Leyden drops heartbreaker

No. 3 Hersey scored three first half goals — twice off the long flip-throws from Nate Mabry — to secure its first supersectional appearance since 2006.

The MSL champions never looked troubled during a marvelous first 20 minutes in which they dominated No. 4 Glenbrook North before temporarily allowing the Spartans (15-4-4) back in the game when they conceded a PK conversion in the 28th minute.

However, six minutes later Kacper Lechowicz restored the Huskies’ two-goal advantage.

The senior would redirect his header high into an open back post net to help his club write their name into the history books with a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon in Lincolnshire.

The Stevenson sectional title sends Mike Rusniak's club into the Barrington super-sectional where it will face Elgin (15-3-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The Maroons dropped a 3-1 contest a year ago to Glenbrook North in its super-sectional final.

Hersey (16-3-5) joins MSL rival Conant in the last eight after the Cougars beat Geneva in penalties Saturday in the St. Charles North sectional final.

"(This) is just an amazing feeling right now," said Huskies senior Adrian Smakowski, who would patrol and control his box with 80 strong minutes, including his near flawless work when defending throws from the Spartans long throw specialist Chase Petersen, who entered this game with 16)assists.

"I am just glad not to have to defend Nate's (Mabry) flip-throws which come in with such speed and accuracy from 45 yards or more," Smakowski said with a wry smile.

Mabry's opener in the ninth minute came when he thumped his header into the same back post that Lechowicz would find late in the half when he met a Nick Van De Mark corner.

"We came out just fine today, but we just didn't have any life afterwards, and it was their speed up top, terrific work rate, an organized defense, and those long throws from No. 11 (Mabry) in which we struggled to defend that we would pay dearly for," said Spartans coach Paul Vignocchi, who led his club to a 3A fourth place state finish last fall.

"We knew from watching the work rate of GBN the other night against GBS that they work hard, and that we would have to outwork them in order to get the result that we wanted," said Ray Reyes. "(We) did a great job of that, especially in the first half, and those three first half goals really were just huge for us."

It was a brilliant touch that went up and over the charging Gil Meyers, who came off his line to challenge Reyes, that led to the Huskies’ second goal at 19 minutes.

It should have been 3-0 moments later if not for a superb save from Meyers on a close range attempt from Reyes after Mabry and Lechowicz sent him on his way.

Jackson Lee would pull one back with his spot-kick after he was hauled down inside the box. But another inch-perfect flip throw from Mabry ended with Lechowicz easily thumping his header into the back of the net.

"Glenbrook North is such a great team, and Paul does a great job with his guys , so we knew we would be in for a real battle today," said Rusniak.

"I am so proud of the effort we gave today to keep things rolling for us into next Tuesday's super at Barrington, and (now) we'll get ourselves ready for Elgin on Tuesday. This team is built on a lot of trust in each other, and I am so proud of the effort we gave today to keep us rolling ahead of a very talented team from Elgin."

LANE TECH 3, LEYDEN 2 (5-4 shootout):

In an intense sectional final showdown Friday night at Robert Naughton Field in Northfield, No. 4 Lane Tech came back twice to force overtime, then a shootout before stunning No. 2 Leyden to advance.

A brilliant double from senior Jesus Ramos — his second on the night in the 70th minute — appeared enough to send the Eagles (19-3-2) on its way to its first supersectional appearance.

However, Lane (15-2-4) stunned Mark Valintis' club when it equalized 29 seconds from time to send this New Trier sectional final into extra time.

A pair of 10-minute periods, both which failed to dent the net despite a handful of chances, would send this contest into a shootout.

Once there, Miles Morrow ended this near three-hour final when he smashed in his spot-kick off a diving Daniel Llanos in round six to give Andrew Ricks’ club from Lane a 5-4 advantage in kicks, and 3-2 victory.

"Twenty plus years coaching and we finally reach a supersectional," said a relieved Ricks, whose club earlier in the week beat top seed Evanston 3-2 in overtime.

"We always felt we had the type of team that could accomplish this kind of result in the postseason. But this sectional was loaded so we knew the road to a spot in the supers would be one in which we had to go through a couple of tremendous programs," continued Ricks.“

"This was a classic high school soccer game that unfortunately ended in a most difficult way for our young men who gave everything they had until there was no more to give," said a disappointed Mark Valintis.

"Lane is a great program, and I am very happy for Andrew, who is a great guy, but, of course we would have liked to advance into our first super as well.“

The Eagles would lose its all-state center-back Fabian Rodriguez to an injury just before the intermission in addition to two other starters.

Ramos' sensational 35-yard volley would chip keeper Evan Burgess in the 18th minute to open the scoring.

The Eagles could have doubled its advantage if not for the first of two game-changing saves from Burgess when he turned away a 34th minute PK from Christian Esquivel.

Lane came out on its front foot after the intermission and would draw level at 62 minutes thanks to Benicio Lacerda from Sebastian Wimmer only to concede a second Ramos goal at 70 minutes just inside the near post.

Grayson Trinter found a way into the Eagles net with his 18th goal of the season off a long throw, but in the process lost a player to a red card for taunting the Leyden crowd.

The Eagles were up 3-2 in the shootout when the aforementioned Burgess saved a spot-kick from David Tracewicz.

Lane would convert its next three, while Leyden missed wide on its final attempt to send the Lane players and its huge following into orbit.

"We overcame a lot of adversity in this game with all of our injuries, which of course is no excuse for our loss, or to discredit Andrew's guys who played one heckuva game," said Valintis.

"(This) one is going to hurt our young men for a while, but, in time, they will come to realize what a wonderful season they had.“